This belt is only 2 months old and it just snapped. Lucky for me I was pulling up to my house as it happened. My question is Why or what could cause it to break like this?




I think maybe the GTM idle pulley is the cause. It doesn't spin so freely when I spin it by hand. Also could it be that it's like 1000 degree outside causing the belt to tighten up too much, just a thought?

 

umm looks like in pic 1 its rubbing on your timing cover....

 

Actually I filed it down with a dremel to prevent that a couple years ago. Also my previous belt was a gatorback, this one is a Napa Gates belt. I chose this one because I heard it was so much better, go figure.

 

too tight?

 

I have worked with superchargers and have some experience with belts. There is no better belt than Gatorback.

 

too tight probably.. and heat can only expand the material.

someone should chim in about GTM pulley as why it doesn't run freely.

 

are you serious? i sure hope not.. gatorbacks are junk, well maybe not junk if you like belt slip..

 

Yes I am. I have tried every belt out there for my application, and Gatoback was the longest lasting and most reliable. It did not strech once engine bay heat came up, where the others did.

Stretch = slip = heat = brake

 

hmm, never ever had a gatorback worth a damn. I guess its a total YMMV

 

^ You are right. Goodyear Gatorback belts are junk and i have had nothing but slipping issues and streching problems with them. I run the gates belts now and have never had a problem with them. I have been told that the Bando belts are one of the best belts you can purchase for strength and longevity. For my next belt change i am going to give the bando belt a try to see how it holds up.

 

bando all the way..gatorbacks suck ***** and stretch and slip....id say it was too tight or that one of the pulleys is not spinning freely like it should causing this..hard to tell..i never ran the gtm pulley mod since i didnt need it, just something else to go wrong...

 

Has anybody tried the new Gates "Racing" belts?? They are supposed be 300% stronger. Also this was happening to me after i tried the timrod belt set up with my larger ati pulley, i rerouted the belt to what i had before and havent had a problem since. I believe there was too much tension as the belt was wrapped over 300 degrees around the crank pulley. Broke 4 belts in a week just like that

 

as the engine bay gets hotter the belt will get tighter. I think somewhere above someone was saying as it heats up it stretches, which is true, the belt will stretch some but not near as much as the diameter of the pulleys will expand thus causing a tight belt condition.

That's why belts slip on start up but once they heat up and the pulleys heat up they are tight again.

My guess, something is rubbing or the belt was too tight and once heated it put too much stress on it.

Also, looking at how it split down the middle that makes me think something isn't aligned right or something is rubbing on it. there is also the possibility of having a bad belt. Those things happen, maybe 1 in a million fail rate, but that's still a chance.

 

I am leaning towards the gtm pulley being the problem. I'm going to replace it to see if it spins more freely. That or just get rid of it all together since I no longer am using the gatorback belt.

 

Found the problem. Went to reinstall the new belt and I noticed that my tension pulley was gone. How the F**k did that happen? The pulley bolt was there but the pulley was gone.

 

^ are you referring to the tensioner on the passenger side of crank pulley?

btw, you're also missing at least 1 bolt on your bracket.

 

Yes that's the one. As for that bolt, all the bolts that came with my kit were checked off and accounted for. Although I thought the same thing when I installed it. Looks like there is more than 1 available mounting hole.

 

see attached. definitely install the bolt in the hole marked with the orange arrow. also, i don't know if it matters much, but most people with the revised belt layout install the larger bolt in the hole below the grooved idler (marked with the green arrow). that's the way its shown in the vortech installation manual.

 

Where can I get these Bando belts?

 

yep, so the tensioner bolt tore the belt in half. I knew something had to be up for it to break down the middle like that.